finalschecksplease,
I reckon you have it summed up about right. I also voted with my feet (actually I had no choice, it was because of age). I always loved Africa, but think Nigeria is quite different from any other African country to work in. After I started this thread I tried to encourage pilots from other West African countries to post, but with little success. I guess many of the pilots in countries such as Cameroun, Gabon and Congo are French with Heli Union and not readers of this forum, and many CHC pilots are reluctant to contribute, maybe for fear of being 'outed' and having problems with management in Nigeria.
Helidude,
My advice would be to try and negotiate with CHC for a different base. About the only one on a par with Nigeria for awfulness is Sudan and the incentive pay for those 2 countries is not nearly as much as it should be when compared with places like Equatorial Guinea or Cameroon. If you're looking at CHC, the housing is pretty lousy with little-or-no sporting facilities. As you may have read on this thread, the company has recently purchased a run-down housing estate from a bankrupt company in an undesirable part of town, It has stated that it will be moving all staff there next year (much against the will of many) and from what I hear this is now being used as an excuse to carry out no improvements to their present leased housing stock. Apparently the Vice President, Safety, from Vancouver visited a few weeks ago and met with the staff, but nothing has been heard back since his visit (I stand to be corrected on that by those still out there, but that's what I hear). The company awarded a pay rise of 4%, but nothing on the Incentive Pay for Nigeria. Looking over what's been written, this has led to such a shortage of pilots that aircraft are now frequently being left in the hangar on a regular basis. The old catering arrangements were changed earlier this year and an outside catering company was brought in for the first time. I'm told that the food is now of a lower standard than before, though with over 20 different nationalities, it's difficult to please everybody. Any CHC pilots out there, please update us on what's happening now.
The security situation has eased a bit as it seems the government have managed to arrest a number of the leaders responsible for the recent spate of expatriate kidnappings (more than 50 in Nigeria this year). However, with Presidential elections coming up in April 2007 and a mega-row going on at present between the President and Vice-President, the security situation is likely to deteriorate considerably in the next 2 to 3 months. The difference with this election is that there are a lot more weapons out there in the hands of the criminal gangs than there were last time. If you decide to go, maintain a very low profile.
Bristow are no better in Port Harcourt. Their pay rise was also pathetic and their housing estate is in another unsavoury part of town - because it's cheap (though it's not as bad as the part CHC is going to move to). They have lost so many pilots this year that they're already in a crisis. Friends there say that their management have finally noticed this and may be prepared to finally do something about it. NEO may well enlighten us on this.
Oh well, back to my sad existence. I hope one day to read some positive news that things are improving for the pilots of both companies in Nigeria, preferably before my eyesight is too bad to be able to read this thread any more
